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Well done Robert Lambert

Trouble is though parts of the sport ARE amateur, maybe semi pro at best but they charge professional prices.

I think Ipswich need at least one reserve who is a real home specialist, this season they have not had that with any rider they have had in that position. If I was in charge, I would be looking at three riders off the top of my head to form the nucleus Doyle, Ellis and Rew.

Sooner they get rid of doubling up the better, it’s a sticky plaster that has been done to death. It will create a rider shortage but that will then force somebody to actually do something about it than pretend it’s not an issue. The league is only being kept afloat by doubling up and riders who would have normally long since retired by now, sooner or later though those riders will have no choice but to call it a day, better to address the issue now than after. And as far as this idea of riders needing to ride to make money, get a job, the only riders who should be full time are the riders who ride in several countries every week. Remember even when the likes of Andy Galvin was dominating the old National League, he was not a full time rider.

The decision to exclude Kyle was typical of that woman, however he was maybe lucky in heat two as I thought his back wheel touched or was very close to the white line coming off turn four.

Lambert might as well retire, Edwards was shocking too. Will Cairns could be another Kenny Carter (but of course not the same tragic end) if Will becomes as good as Carter it will be great for this Country. I had low expectations ahead of this meeting, but I found it an enjoyable watch.

Hand bags etc who cares, its drama, its making the meeting a lot more interesting and your getting that drama because this meeting actually has something riding on it. They say its slick but clearly there is some dirt on it because of the outside run.

I like Jason too, I mean he is to all intents a Hammer but its been eight years since he made his debut with Lakeside and I thought he might have come on a bit more, He often does not appear to know what line is the best one and also I think he is one of those riders that are too nice for their own good, he is a very nice guy off the track.

Where are the riders going to come from? you know as much as I would like Arena to return, the state the sport is in at present, I hope it’s not anytime soon unless it was at Nora or National League level accompanied with a training track.

Poole will win this easily tonight, too many Redcar riders have little to no awareness of where their partner is or the opposition, Edward’s last night in one heat practically waved Lawson by because he left gap on the outside you could get truck through. 54-36

What was the apology for? The result or lack of racing 😉

Lee only rode 15 meetings, according to the complete history of the British League, he failed to turn up for a meeting in June, the club suspended him and he did not ride a bike again until 1991 Simmo only rode 10 meetings Over 40 matches including BL and League cup, Lynn won 4, draw 2 and lost 34, biggest tonking at home 23-55 to Cradley, biggest tonking on the road 60-18 at Oxford

It will be slick, probably the only Ipswich rider that would want more dirt down is King so he will be voted down 6/1 Belle Vue with Tate at reserve will take this, they can even afford to carry Brady if he is in self preservation mode which at this point you can't blame him, unless Ipswich have Lawson and Nicholls go sick in the 2nd leg and are replaced by say Ben Cook and Chris Harris, this could be one of the biggest aggregate wins in play off history I think.

Not a good week for BSN, with a meeting called off due to non weather events and another meeting not going the distance, neither the fault of the Network but I think there will be come a time where they will have to approach those in charge and tell them to get their act together because the clubs are killing their business. They can only film what is in front of them but if that is rubbish, people will stop buying it, it suddenly occurred to me why has the tracks suddenly become so hard to get right in terms of preparation and vulnerability to being called off? and the think the answer is Clay, until this season I never heard word clay and speedway in the same sentence but we hear it all the time now, tracks are now more clay that shale and it’s ruining it. Clay is cheaper than shale so just bung more clay on it, it’s like painting a piece of art on kitchen towel, it doesn’t matter how well you do it, it still comes out looking like crap.

Republica sing “Ready to Go” Europe is of course “final countdown”

To be fair you look at most venues and they are stuck in the 80s complete with music from that era apart from list of songs that every track plays prior to the start, prior to heat 15, after a 5-1 and some individual rider victory songs, it’s like the BSPA handout out a list some 15 plus years ago and said you can only use these so every track plays the same stuff. Pretty much every club plays Republica before the meetings starts and Europe prior to heat 15, no one wants to stand out and be different it’s all the same old same old.

To be fair you look at most venues and they are stuck in the 80s complete with music from that era apart from list of songs that every track plays prior to the start, prior to heat 15, after a 5-1 and some individual rider victory songs, it’s like the BSPA handout out a list some 15 plus years ago and said you can only use these so every track plays the same stuff. Pretty much every club plays Republica before the meetings starts and Europe prior to heat 15, no one wants to stand out and be different it’s all the same old same old.

Agree to a point but if a highlights package only produces a false picture of what attending a meeting is like your setting yourself up to fail because as soon as these people visit most tracks they will see a much different picture and won’t be back.

Shambles and not the first time at this track, easy to blame stock cars but Lynn has both, Coventry had both, others tracks have had elements of both where even with a tarmac track the cars still end up rutting up the speedway track. And let’s not forget it’s not stock cars sharing with speedway, it’s speedway sharing with stock cars, I turned in BSN close to half seven, was going to to give it a couple of races because at least with bomber involved you will have at least one rider who will prove whether the track has anything to it but all I saw was them blading off a ton of dirt leaving a shiny surface, no way were they ever going to race on that.

Slick does not mean it has to be bone dry, Arena Essex was always slick, sometimes one of the slickest tracks around but you seldom saw dust billowing up all over the place. that's not to say it never happened on a Good Friday afternoon though. Rye House always raced Sunday afternoons, I cant recall coming away from there covered in dust many times if ever. People want to enjoy their evening and hopefully see their team win, no one seriously wants to get covered in or get all that muck in their lungs and those on the outside are not going to go to speedway if the narrative is they are going to get covered in dust. And although this is a Poole thread its not just them, Oxford is probably far and away the worst, a few other tracks are up there too, and there is only three of four tracks where i would be confident you will 1. not see any dust and 2. likely to have an entertaining meeting. Which is why after this season i will be giving up BSN because they can only show whats in front of them, and all too often its rubbish.

Will Northampton be back? Nothing but problems with the track and as I write this their home meeting with the Stars is currently delayed because of an issue even though juniors were racing on it only hours before.

I think people are getting confused about the nexus of the issue, it’s not about tracks being slick, it’s not about tracks having home advantage, it’s about the practice of clubs allowing the track to be a dust bowl which does not do anyone less the sport any favours.

The Eastbourne riders had it dialled in, I remember that, especially on that first and second bend so most of the passing was done by the home riders, if you could ride Eastbourne you could ride anywhere, very technical track indeed, even back in the day it tended to be slick because you often had to back the bike in, but there was grip too, they had riders like Andrew Silver and Adam Shields, neither were riders who would stick it on the kerb.

Slick tracks and grippy tracks are part and parcel for the sport, BUT dust should never be accepted, maybe when its a day meeting and the temp is high 20's early 30's fair enough, but not evening meetings in September. All this dust people are breathing in, I bet that will do wonders for your health in years to come. This is not a post aimed at stopping Poole winning at home, or any track having a home advantage but there is no excuse, no excuse whatsoever why a track cant be prepared so that you do not have to wash your car and have a shower after a night out. The amount of proper tracks that have plenty of dirt are far and few between, we might as well race on tarmac because then you can have it dry as ducks back and there will not be any dust. People go on about it be great if speedway was on ITV, no it would not, it would kill the sports reputation once and for all. Peter Oakes said this about dust in a recent interview on 360 speedway, and here is a man that has forgotten more about speedway than most will ever know.

Whether its 40-38 or more in my case 49-47, a close meeting does add something extra but it can stressful too, and going home after a defeat always was a bit of downer because every season my hope was that little Arena Essex would at least win their home meetings because I knew success on the road would be rare. Take out the aggregate bonus point though and that changes the dynamic completely, scrapping a home win means a lot more, and remember when they were giving extra points for winning at home by more than six? I recall the late Jon Cook saying that often made narrow home wins feels like you lost.